A Slight Irritation
by CartographerCale
Summary: Pyrrha thinks back to her first tournament victory win and can't help but feel it was... tainted... by something so minor.


Pyrrha had received mail a few days ago. It was a few items her parents had sent her from home. Among those were her trophies from the Mistral Regional Tournaments. Ah, they brought back memories. But there was one trophy she had always had a problem with. There was something about it that just seemed odd. She couldn't help but think back to the time she won it...

 _# # # # #_

Pyrrha swiftly dodged left, avoiding her opponent's halberd and threw a cut with her xiphos. Her opponent stepped back, only barely getting out of the way of the incoming attack. Pyrrha noticed the halberdier was desperately trying to hide her panting and sprang into action, delivering quick and effective cuts to her opponent, slowly wearing down her aura. Her flurry was cut short however, as her opponent flashed her aura, emitting a considerable force wave which disoriented Pyrrha, giving her opponent the opportunity to counter with a heavy swing, sending Pyrrha sliding some distance away.

Pyrrha, internally panicking as she tried to recover because she was expecting a follow-up attack, saw her opponent a few feet away in a low stance and pointing her halberd at her. Pyrrha quickly assumed a defensive stance, but her sudden movement caused the halberdier to take a small step backward. Pyrrha remained in her stance trying to sense the next attack. It came in the form of a quick jab which she deflected with her shield. Pyrrha took a few steps forward in an attempt to close the distance between them, but each of her steps were countered with her opponent's backsteps. The halberdier seemed extremely cautious in maintaining the current spacing - keeping Pyrrha within her attack range while staying out of Pyrrha's.

 _'She's playing defensively. She must be running out of aura',_ Pyrrha thought while simultaneously parrying four quick jabs from her opponent. They seemed to find themselves in a stalemate. The halberdier could only jab at Pyrrha because performing any other attack would leave her open - even for an instant - and given her current state it wasn't a risk she was planning to take. Pyrrha, on the other hand, couldn't advance because her opponent wouldn't let her get close. She could shift her xiphos into a spear but her opponent's halberd would still be longer. She could probably use it in its rifle form, but with her weapon's current iteration it would take too long, leaving her without a weapon for a few moments. But perhaps...

Pyrrha waited in her stance, watching out for the next jab. Her sharp eye caught her opponent's shoulder drop slightly, giving her the cue for the next attack. Pyrrha used her semblance on the head of her opponent's halberd as it was thrust toward her. She magnetically pulled the halberd hard toward her whilst sidestepping the attack. This sudden force caused the halberdier to stumble quite a bit forward, into Pyrrha's attack range, where Pyrrha subsequently delivered a strong uppercut slash that sent her opponent flying.

"And the winner is: Pyrrha Nikos!"

The announcer's voice boomed out into the arena. The crowd responded with mostly cheers and whistles for the victor, while some were left slightly disappointed their fighter lost. A huge sense of victory swelled within Pyrrha and resonated with the cheering, leaving a wide smile on her face. An official strode into the arena handing Pyrrha a large golden trophy, its surprising heft seemed to serve only to widen Pyrrha's smile.

"Let's hear it for the new champion of the Mistral Regional Tournament, Pyrrha Nikos!"

The crowd once again erupted in cheers. Pyrrha, still feeling the victory high, tried to hoist her hefty trophy in the air. Unfortunately, on the way up her sharp eye caught something on the trophy's plaque that made her feel... slightly less victorious. The plaque read:

 **PHYRRA NIKOS**

 **CHAMPION OF THE 45TH MISTRAL REGIONAL TOURNAMENT**

A few moments later the official escorted her out of the arena.

# # # # #

"I'm so proud of you," Pyrrha's mother greeted with a hug, "You're the new champion of Mistral!" Pyrrha's mother released her daughter from her loving clutches, but she was slightly concerned to see a reserved and embarrased expression on her face instead of a smile like the one she had earlier.

"What's the matter, Pyrrha? What's wrong?", she asked.

"N-no, it's n-nothing, really, it's just...", replied Pyrrha.

"It's just... what?", responded Pyrrha's mother, in an increasingly concerned tone.

"...they spelled my name wrong on the trophy...", capitulated Pyrrha. Pyrrha's mother then snatched the trophy out of Pyrrha's hands and carefully examined the plaque, before saying "Excuse me", and storming off to find the nearest arena official to yell at. Meanwhile Pyrrha pulled out her scroll and turned it on. It buzzed to life with alerts of text messages from her friends from Sanctum Academy.

 _'hey pyrah congrats on the win'_

 _'Pyrrah I watched you fight. You are amazing!'_

 _'pyhrra where did u learn to fight like that? you are awesome'_

Pyrrha let out a sigh and replied to each of the messages with:

 _'Thank you. By the way, my name is spelt P-Y-R-R-H-A!'_


End file.
